Why don't Christians move Christmas to Jesus's actual birthday?

Question

December 25th used to be a Pagan festival day. I hated telling my kids "Jesus was born today." this past week.

Answer 1

We don't know the exact date

As I understand the reasoning, this day was chosen to give unpagan ( is that a word?) ...antipagan people an alternative to the pagan celebration

Answer 2

Not sure of actual date but do know that in the 1st century the Romans were still controlling all the holly lands as well as most of Europe. As Christianity was outlawed they needed to pick a data that the Romans also held sacred and celebrated on. At this time in history the Romans had hundreds of gods like the Greek & Viking gods.

-- You will find the same problem with date of our lords reserection. --ie easter moves across months due to how many new moons since summer equinox. --This coinsides with both Jewish passover and Roman spring festable.

Even if exact dates could be desiferd from Roman records(JESUS mentioned more times than Cleopatra in Roman records) it would cause much harm/ distress to many belivers for little gain.

The more important consideration is the cellibration of JESUS's birth, life, message, death, & reserrection not, an arbortory date. happy new year to all

Answer 3

So why did you tell them he was born on the 25th Dec. Why not tell them the truth. That we do not know the exact day of Jesus birth. You will have to do some research and soul searching before you do this though as they then may ask...

Why don't we know his date of birth?
If Jesus had wanted us to celebrate his birth wouldn't we have been told when as we were told on which date he died?
Why are we celebrating a pagan festival and telling ourselves we are celebrating Christs birth?
Etc. etc. etc.

Children are not stupid and will want to know the full truth. But recognizing that truth doesn't mean an end to the fun of the holiday celebration, we can still have the presents, tree and parties it just means we recognize it for what it is not something it isn't.

Answer 4

Christmas Day is kept by convention as the day we celebrate Christ's birth. It does not mean Jesus was born on that day.

If we knew from reliable historical records his exact date of birth, then we would celebrate it on that date. Unfortunately we know neither the date nor even the exact year, so we have to be content with an arbitrary date.

If Dec 25 was once a pagan festival, then think of it this way. We no longer celebrate that pagan festival. It's long since forgotten by the majority of the population, and people don't even care. Worship of idols has been replaced by worship of the one true God, and that's a good thing to celebrate.

So I would have no qualms about having Christmas Day on Dec 25.

Answer 5

Ahh... Merry Sol Invictus everyone!! Just kidding.

The reason Jesus' actual birthday isn't celebrated is because... well... no one actually knows his exact date of birth. Disputes amongst theological scholars abound to this day as to his date of birth.

Jesus' birthday has been traditionally celebrated on December 25 as Christmas as far back as 330AD among Roman Christians.

Before then, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his baptism by John in the Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life.

Many today in Eastern Christianity celebrate Christmas on January 7 because they continue to use the Julian calendar, in which December 25 corresponds to January 7 on the Gregorian calendar now in common usage.

Luke's descriptions of shepherds' activities at the time of Jesus' birth suggest a spring or summer date. However, some speculate that the December 25th date of the celebration derived from a Christian opposition to or absorption of the cult of the "unconquered sun" (Sol Invictus) promoted by Roman emperors in the third century in their efforts to establish a new imperial religion.

The pope, Benedict XVI, has challenged this theory, arguing that a December 25th date was determined simply by calculating nine months beyond March 25th, regarded as the day of Jesus’ conception (the Feast of the Annunciation)

Answer 6

Almost any Christian you asked would claim there was no way you could tell when Jesus was born, except that it was at a time when sheep were in the open at night because of the shepherds watching them in the fields. People sometimes claim that there is an astrological way of finding out the exact date of his birth involving a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, but since many Christians are also opposed to astrology because they see it as a form of divination, they are unlikely to be comfortable with this.

Answer 7

Exactly. Wonderful idea. But i think its a bit late seeing as everyone knows that Christmas is on the 25th of December. I do think its stupid seeing as Christmas is meant to be about celebrating Jesus' birth anyway.

Answer 8

Even though the exact date of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is lost and forgotten and December 25 was declared by the early Christian church as Christmas day because they want to “christainize” a very popular pagan winter festival during their time, it does not matter.

What is most important is that having December 25 as Christmas day gives us a chance to show and to express our gratitude to God, our Heavenly Father for His mercy, love, care and compassion bestowed upon us.

And most of all, He gave the whole world and mankind the greatest gift of all- His son, Jesus Christ, our lord and savior. The prophecy has fulfilled! A great reason to celebrate! God bless!

Answer 9

Elizabeth ( Mary's cousin ) conceived on the fourth week of September. On her sixth month ( March ) Mary came to visit her, who at that time already conceived Jesus, because she has just accepted God's plan for her to conceive the Saviour. So if you count nine months from March, that would fall on later part of December.

Merry Christmas!

Answer 10

The actual date is still a speculation no one knows conclusively the exact date.......it is so ordained by God....otherwise men will start attaching much importance to the date or the exact location in Bethlehem....which will amount to idol worshiping ( an abomination to God)